The Book of Swords (Hardcover)

Description

New epic fantasy in the grand tradition--including a never-before-published Song of Ice and Fire story by George R. R. Martin

Fantasy fiction has produced some of the most unforgettable heroes ever conjured onto the page: Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian, Michael Moorcock's Elric of Melnibone, Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser. Classic characters like these made sword and sorcery a storytelling sensation, a cornerstone of fantasy fiction--and an inspiration for a new generation of writers, spinning their own outsize tales of magic and swashbuckling adventure.

Now, in TheBook of Swords, acclaimed editor and bestselling author Gardner Dozois presents an all-new anthology of original epic tales by a stellar cast of award-winning modern masters--many of them set in their authors' best-loved worlds. Join today's finest tellers of fantastic tales, including George R. R. Martin, K. J. Parker, Robin Hobb, Scott Lynch, Ken Liu, C. J. Cherryh, Daniel Abraham, Lavie Tidhar, Ellen Kushner, and more on action-packed journeys into the outer realms of dark enchantment and intrepid derring-do, featuring a stunning assortment of fearless swordsmen and warrior women who face down danger and death at every turn with courage, cunning, and cold steel.

FEATURING SIXTEEN ALL-NEW STORIES:

"The Best Man Wins" by K. J. Parker "Her Father's Sword" by Robin Hobb "The Hidden Girl" by Ken Liu "The Sword of Destiny" by Matthew Hughes "'I Am a Handsome Man, ' Said Apollo Crow" by Kate Elliott "The Triumph of Virtue" by Walter Jon Williams "The Mocking Tower" by Daniel Abraham "Hrunting" by C. J. Cherryh "A Long, Cold Trail" by Garth Nix "When I Was a Highwayman" by Ellen Kushner "The Smoke of Gold Is Glory" by Scott Lynch "The Colgrid Conundrum" by Rich Larson "The King's Evil" by Elizabeth Bear "Waterfalling" by Lavie Tidhar "The Sword Tyraste" by Cecelia Holland "The Sons of the Dragon" by George R. R. MartinAnd an introduction by Gardner Dozois

About the Author

Gardner Dozois has been inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. He has won fifteen Hugo Awards, a World Fantasy Award, and thirty-four Locus Awards for his editing work, as well as two Nebula Awards and a Sidewise Award for his own writing. He was the editor of the leading science fiction magazine, Asimov's Science Fiction, for twenty years, and is also the editor of the anthology series The Year's Best Science Fiction, now in its thirty-fourth collection. He is the author or editor of more than a hundred books. His two most recent anthologies, Dangerous Women and Rogues, were New York Times bestsellers.